Consortium for Development of Sustainable Research Based Fellowship Training on Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Biostatistics in Africa

The IDEA Fellowship programme is consortium driven. There are eight consortia institutions including seven in Africa and one in the UK. The main purpose of this project is to build capacity in Africa to respond to infectious disease outbreaks through training of field epidemiologists and biostatisticians. Disease outbreaks that are affecting most of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) include those that are newly emerging, like COVID 19. Multi-drug resistant bacteria or viruses have also newly emerged. Some of these include multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, multi-drug resistant bacteria and fungi. Others are infectious diseases that were previously there, disappeared and are re-emerging, such as Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Congo Crimean Haemorrhagic fever, Aflatoxin, Bubonic pneumonia, and polio among others. There are also infectious diseases that have been on the sub-continent for a long time, but have recently increased in both frequency and impact on health services, such as malaria, pneumonia, cholera, measles, and mumps. These diseases have been known to cause epidemics in some settings. The WHO Joint External Evaluation (JEE), conducted in June 2017, to assess Uganda's level of compliance with the set standards, noted that some progress had been done; however, the areas that were lagging behind include appropriately trained infectious diseases field epidemiologists. The IDEA Fellowship Programme was designed in response to this gap in capacity building. The vision of the IDEA Fellowship Programme is to build capacity through training of scientists on infectious disease epidemiology, capable of conducting disease surveillance, outbreak investigations and timely response, and translating data into evidence-based practice in Uganda. This is the first-degree awarding programme for Infectious Disease Field Epidemiology and paves the way for a career path for the Fellows. The programme includes 24 months hands-on-training in field epidemiology and biostatistics at Busitema University. The initial intake of 15 Fellows were admitted into the programme taking into account gender and merit. The implementing organisations include seven complementary and synergistic partners: Busitema University; Uganda National Public Health Institute; Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation; Uganda National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services; Uganda Virus Research Institute; Mbale Clinical Research Institute and The Open University. The IDEA Fellowship will strengthen the Uganda Ministry of Health's capacity for infectious disease surveillance and outbreak response, contribute to the development of a critical mass of scientists, establish a career track in field epidemiology, and boost the participating institution's research capacity and synergies in terms of South-South and South-North collaborations.